


A Melody Long Remembered

by McKayRulez



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Beginnings, Episode: s05e25 The Inner Light, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Jean-Luc Picard Is So Done, Legends, Old Age, Possibly Pre-Slash, Retirement, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 15:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18967759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McKayRulez/pseuds/McKayRulez
Summary: While living a quiet life on his family's vineyard, after his retirement from Starfleet, Picard gets an unexpected visitor, wanting him to come back.





	A Melody Long Remembered

There was the sound of a rocking chair thudding against old wood floors. 

A sweet melody of a flute played among the breeze that rustled through the vineyard leaves. 

The delicate clinkling of wind chimes that hung out on the porch. 

The wind suddenly grew stronger and he squinted his eyes, as dirt from the farmland began to stir. The wind chimes began to clang loudly. 

The roar of a shuttle engine, as the small spacecraft came in for a landing. 

The sound of a ker-chunk, as the landing gears kicked in. 

Then the air grew still. There was nothing now, but the flute and the rocking. 

After a moment, footsteps were heard crunching onto the dirt, walking up to him.

His visitor squinted up at him, hiding the glare of the sun behind her hand. 

“Jean-Luc Picard.” Admiral Janeway smiled. “I’m here to take you back to Starfleet command, if you’re willing.” 

His rocking stopped, and his flute quieted on his lips. 

He looked down at her for a long moment, then gave her a stern look. 

“I already gave my response to Riker and Geordi, and now I’ll say it to you. Not this bloody time. You don’t need me. You arriving here personally for Starfleet, Admiral, changes nothing.”

Kathryn gave him a raised eyebrow for a moment, then her expression changed to a small teasing smile, her head tilted to the side. “‘Bloody’? Are you still French or are you British now?” 

“I’m seventy. Who cares what I am anymore?” He thought she was going to protest, and argue with him like the others, but was surprised at her abrupt change of topic. 

She looked down at his flute. “That was a nice melody… I don’t think I’ve heard it before.” 

Picard looked down at it and felt a slight pang in his chest. “No.. You wouldn’t have.. It’s.. A song from a world and it's people, both long dead.” 

“Oh.. How sad..” 

He continued to stare at the flute and nodded, remembering his children, or well.. The people he raised as his children anyway. 

“And yet, you care for it. Why?” She asked quietly. 

“It.. Holds a special place in my heart.” 

Kathryn gave him a sympathetic look. “And that’s what you’ve become.” 

“Huh?” He looked up at her. 

“You hold a special place in people's hearts, Jean-Luc. Generations have grown up hearing of your adventures and your stories.. And even when it was over and the years drew long since you stopped, you still held a place in legend.” 

She knelt down and took his withered old hands, cradling his flute, in hers and looked him in the eyes.

“You’re what people need right now, to save them from these dark times.”

He gazed back into her eyes, searching for something. Looking for motivation from her, or perhaps searching for it inside himself, as he saw his old forlorn face reflected off her irises.

He took a deep breath. “Okay..” He raised a hand from hers holding up a finger, before she could speak, he added. “Under one condition.” 

“Name it.” 

“We share a bottle of wine and a pot of Earl Grey on the ride there?” 

“An actual bottle from The Picard family vineyard? Not that fake synthehol stuff?” She responded, feigning the horror of such a request, jokingly, then smiled. “Sounds perfect.” 

The two stood and Picard opened the door to his family home, and set to work finding a good year bottle. 

Janeway peered around the home curiously. “Though, I do hope you at least have some black coffee to sober us up, before we end up crashing into something.” 

“Oh, don’t worry so much, Kathy.” Picard came from the cellar holding up two bottles and a large teapot. “What’s the harm in a couple of old admirals breaking one last rule before fully coming out of retirement?” 

"You've been spending to much time with Q lately. You're starting to sound like him." She squinted. 

"I hope not." 

“I think you’re just trying to get fired, before you’re even rehired.” 

He sighed. “Was I that obvious?” 

She grinned softly. “Yeah.. Suggesting drinking and driving a shuttle was a bit too much.” She tilted her head, gesturing to the room. “How about we just have it here then.. We’re not on a time restraint.. With all your rejections so far, I doubt they’d think I’d suddenly show up with you so soon anyway.” 

“Sounds reasonable.” He set the supplies on the table, then sat on a couch uncorking a bottle with a loud pop. 

Janeway took a seat next to him and was handed a glass he poured for her. When he poured his own, she raised her glass in toast to him. 

“To discovering new beginnings, from what was left behind.” 

He thought for a moment, then replied, “For our melodies and legends, remembered long after.”


End file.
